Murtha AP: "Who covered it up, why did they cover it up, why did they wait so long?" Murtha said on "This Week" on ABC. "We don't know how far it goes. It goes right up the chain of command."
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George: Three commanders have been relieved of their duty, is that connected to this?

Murtha: Well they tell me it's not connected to this, they tell me it was dereliction of duty.

The NY Times has more.

Paul Hackett called me and said that he is now representing Capt. James S. Kimber, commanding officer of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment who is one of the three officers that was relieved of duty. He said that he believes Kimber was relieved because one of his marines spoke out to the British news media and criticized the Iraqi security forces competence level that made it onto film. He also believes that Rumsfeld is applying pressure from the top down so that there will be no further disapproving rhetoric permitted in public about the newly trained Iraqi military.

Hackett will be guest hosting the Ed Schultz show on Monday and I'm sure he will be talking about this issue.

(h/t David Edwards for the video)

Open Thread

Bernie Kerik under investigation...

The Cowardly Lion strikes again
I'm trying to figure out why Howard Kurtz had Hugh Hewitt on in the first place today, but we do learn once again that his opinions are divorced from reality. This morning on "Reliable Sources," he made the wildly insane claim that Rush Limbaugh is America's most trusted journalist. I thought he was a talk show host, but his evidence is that Rush has the biggest audience. When talking about Daily Kos' popularity on Hannity and Colmes his argument against Kos was that Larry Flynt is popular too.
(CNN provides the transcript)

HEWITT: But we all know that everyone tilts one way or the other. They just hide it better or less. And my argument at this conference was that transparency means tell people what you believe so that they can correct for the lie of the green. And if you want trust back -- that was what our big thing was, how do you get trust? The most trusted journalist in America -- it might shock you -- is Rush Limbaugh. He has the highest sustained audience. And I made that argument to them. And people can't argue with his rebranding as America's anchorman.

KURTZ: But Rush Limbaugh would make no pretense of being an objective journalist. He's a commentator.

Media Matters documents some of Limbaugh's ridiculous opinions.

Frist: Gay Marriage and Flag Burning are Highest Priorities

We now know what Bill Frist's priorities are in the Senate and why he's such a horrific leader.

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HOST: You talk about a lot of issues that affect people's lives. And yet you're going to bring two constitutional amendments to the Senate floor in the next few weeks, one to ban same-sex marriage, another to ban flag-burning, both reportedly in the papers to mobilize your conservative base. I have to tell you, I talked to a Republican senator this week who said he may vote for both of them but said they're both pandering. Are gay marriage and flag burning the most important issues the Senate can be addressing in June of 2006?

FRIST: Let me tell you what the agenda is real quick. Secure America's safety here at home. I mentioned supporting our troops overseas, making sure we pass that supplemental bill, making sure we tighten down our borders. securing America, a healthier America, so we’ll continiue to –

HOST: All right. But ...

FRIST: Let me tell you, right now there's no prioritization there. Securing America’' values. I hope tomorrow and today as people see that American flag, and I’m going to Arlington cemetery tomorrow and I'm going to see that flag waving on every grave over there. When you look at that flag and you tell me that right now people in this country are saying it’' okay to desecrate that flag and to burn it and to not pay respect to it, is that important to our values as a people when we’ve got 130,000 people fighting for our freedom and liberty today? That is important. It may not be important here in Washington where people say, well, it’s political posturing and all, but it’s important to the heart and soul of the American people.

Marriage — marriage, you asked about. Right now. Why marriage today? Marriage is for our society that union between a man and a woman, is the cornerstone of our society. It is under attack today. Right now there are 13 states who passed constitutional amendments in the last year and a half to protect marriage. Why? Because in nine states today, activist judges, unelected activist judges are tearing down state laws in nine states today. That’s why I will take it to the floor of the Senate, simply define marriage as the union between a man and a woman.

(h/t David Edwards)

Jonah might have tried this method of journalism

Greg:

OK, so here's the deal on the very big lie Jonah Goldberg thinks he's caught Al Gore telling about what he did or didn't do when he was slogging his way through puberty.----I think I've discovered a novel way to settle this question -- a method that Goldberg probably should have entertained, too: I called Al Gore's people and asked them what the deal was....read on"

C&L's Late Night Music Club with Wes Montgomery

With the holiday weekend upon us, I got into a Wes kinda mood. You can't talk about guitar players without bringing Wes Montgomery into the conversation. I think it's very important to support the great jazz legacy of American culture which seems so under appreciated these days. What an amazing gift to us and to the world of music.

ClassicJazzGuitar:
"For the jazz guitarist, the recordings from the first period remain the most significant. All Wes Montgomery recordings have the unmistakable Montgomery imprint, but it is the small group material that best presented the whole context of the Montgomery approach to jazz guitar. Wes Montgomery was a superb melodist who made the head of the most common jazz standard sound fresh. His improvisational skills were second to none, and he was a magnificent supporting musician. And, of course, there was that warm Wes Montgomery sound achieved by using his thumb rather than a pick. The small group material gave the listener immediate access to all this better than the later recordings."

Ashley Kahn talks about the master on NPR.

"This disc is an excellent sampling of his thumb-picking approach and the soft and round use of octaves:" The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery

Late Night Open Thread

Hear you go...

Brad DeLong makes Larry Kudlow look like a____

Jonah Goldberg once again

Does this make any sense?

"These folks never want to engage whether Gore was in fact telling the truth or exaggerating. Do they think Gore ever really spent a whole summer as a teenager speaking fluent French about Sartre et al only to come home and get C's in French? If it's not true, isn't it really weird that he would say it? And, truth be told, if it is true, don't you think it's really weird that this is what a fifteen year-old kid wanted to do with his summer? (italics his)

Ezra Klein doesn't think so either.

"If Gore didn't spend the summer in France studying existentialism, he's a liar. If he did, he's weird. Heads Jonah wins, tails Gore loses....read on"

Mr. Rogers passionate plea for Public Broadcasting: '69

Rogers vs Tomlinson

What a great clip.

"Mr. Rogers appeared before Congress to oppose Richard Nixon's budget cutbacks for Public Broadcasting, and melted the cold heart of a Senator."

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Educational Quarterly:

"But the highlight of the hearing appears to have been Rogers' fifteen-minute testimony and his dialogue with the subcommittee chair, Senator John O. Pastore, a Democrat from Rhode Island. Pastore, who had not previously seen any of Rogers' work, indicated he was now anxious to view the program, told Rogers that what he heard gave him goosebumps, and that the impact of Rogers' testimony was "I think you just got your twenty million dollars." Congressional appropriations were made two years in advance; counting forward to 1971, PBS funding increased from $9 million to $22 million after the Pastore committee hearings....read on

Eric Boehlert: "Republicans have launched a heavy-handed campaign to correct public broadcasting's "liberal slant." There's just one problem: Most Americans don't think it has one....read on"

If we don't get out and vote-guys like Tomlinson will destroy everything we hold dear to our hearts.

Update: FDL has this from Boehlert's book about Tomlinson:

For Tomlinson and administration aides who privately cheered him on, the most obvious obstacle to his public crusade against PBS's alleged liberal bias was the polling Tomlinson's CPB paid for in 2002 and 2003. Conducted jointly by respeted Republican and Democratic firms that contacted 1,008 randomly selected participants from across the country, the polls showed not only that Americans held public broadcasting in extremely high regard, but the surveys also showed conclusively that the vast majority of Americans-both regular public broadcasting consumers as well as those who only occasionally sampled the programming-agreed the network did not have a problem with liberal tilt....read on

Eric's new book "LapDogs," is available now.